Background: The indigenous healers or traditional doctors play a significant role in the
healthcare provisioning in Africa. Although traditional healing has been in practice for several
centuries, very little has been achieved in terms of harvesting the wealth of tacit knowledge
possessed by these practitioners for future references.

Objective: The objectives of this article were twofold. The first objective was to capture the
tacit knowledge possessed by traditional healers in Mozambique. The second objective was to
enhance preservation of tacit knowledge for sharing and training of other traditional healers.

Method: The cognitive semiotic model was used as a basis for capturing the tacit knowledge.
Qualitative and quantitative data were collected by using interviews and questionnaires were
applied during systems requirements elucidation, designing the user interface and in building
the knowledge repository. In the requirement elucidation phase, 13 traditional doctors were
interviewed. Besides text and voice recordings, video recordings and photos were used in
capturing the tacit knowledge. The usability of the system was tested by using the heuristic
evaluation technique.

Results: The findings revealed that the system developed could be used for capturing the tacit
knowledge and storing it in an explicit form. The usability tests indicated that the prototype
developed served its purpose to a great extent.

Conclusion: The study concludes that cognitive semiotic model is a suitable tool for capturing
tacit knowledge of traditional doctors in Mozambique. The results of the usability evaluation
confirm that the system developed supports information sharing and ease of use. It is
observed that the developed application could support users with little formal education.
However, some basic computer literacy training would assist in maximising the benefits of
the system.

Background: Many studies have examined the mobile commerce phenomenon and most of
these have focused on understanding the organisational and environmental factors that affect
its adoption. Few have examined how an individual’s characteristics and their perceived
motivational appetite affect their mobile commerce usage and specifically the activities they
engage in.

Objectives: This study examines the role of demographics (individuals’ characteristics) and
motivational factors on mobile commerce usage activities from the South African perspective.

Method: An objective approach and a positivistic stance were followed. The research model
and instrument from earlier studies by Chong (2013a) were contextualised to suit this study.
Data collection was done through an online questionnaire, 88 responses were received and 81
used for data analysis.

Results: The findings show that age is significantly related to mobile commerce transactions,
and one’s education status influences the following mobile commerce usage activities:
transactions and location-based services. One’s gender influences how one uses mobile
commerce. A significant relationship between all three motivational variables and mobile
commerce usage activities is evident.

Conclusion: The findings provide the financial services industry and providers of mobile
commerce offerings with a better understanding of the relationships between customer
demographics and the mobile commerce activities they engage in. An additional variable of
customer income has been identified for future studies to better understand the relationship.

Background: Youths have been found to utilise and adopt information communication
technology (ICT) faster than any other population cohort. This has been aided by the advent of
social media, especially Facebook and Instagram as platforms of choice. Calls have been made
for more research (especially in rural communities) on the usage of ICT platforms such as
social media among the youth as a basis for interventions that not only allow for better
communication but also for learning.

Objectives: The research investigated the relationship between knowledge sharing, habit and
obligation in relation to social media usage among a sample of rural South African youth.

Method: This study is descriptive by design. Primary data were collected from 447 youths
domiciled within a rural community in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa using a selfadministered
questionnaire. The respondents to the study were all social media users.
A combination of descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation analysis was used to make
meaning of the data.3

Results: The study found a significant positive correlation to exist in all three independent
variables (knowledge sharing, habit and obligation) with the dependent variable (social media
usage) concerning Facebook usage among the sample of South African rural youth.

Conclusion: Based on the findings of the research, recommendations and implications with
regard to theory and practice are made.

Background: In tourism, globally there is a growing interest in social media marketing
research. However, most previous research on social media marketing has focused on large
tourism enterprises such as chain hotels, leaving out small tourism businesses such as travel
agencies and tour operators.

Objective: The aim of this research was to establish factors that influence attitude towards the
use of social media marketing by travel agencies and tour operators in South Africa.

Method: The study adopted a quantitative approach through the use of questionnaires. Data
used in the analysis were collected from 150 travel agencies and tour operators by means of a
structured questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis and one-way ANOVA were used for
data analysis.

Results: The results showed that managerial support and managers’ level of education are the
two main internal factors which influence attitude towards the use of social media marketing.
Pressure from competitors, perceived benefits and perceived ease of use were found to be the
most prominent external factors which influence the use of social media marketing. The results
also revealed that technical knowledge moderates the relationship between attitude towards
social media marketing and the level of social media marketing usage.

Conclusion: The study concludes with these recommendations: Management of
travel agencies, tour operating businesses and the South African government should
support the use of social media marketing by small tourism businesses through providing
training and workshops on social media marketing for the employees to acquire the
required skills.

Background: In the last decade, social media users across the world have crossed 1 billion,
making it one of the fastest growing sources of big data. Also, people needing healthcare
continue to increase in every society. Through accessibility, communication and interaction
between health practitioners and patients, this type of ever-growing, social media
subscriber–based platform can be of significant use in improving healthcare delivery to
society. However, users encounter serious challenges in their attempts to make use of social
media and big data for health-related services. The challenges are primarily caused by
factors such as integration, complexity, security and privacy. The challenges are mainly
owing to the sensitive nature of the healthcare environment, as a result of personalisation
and privacy of information.

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to examine and gain a better understanding of the
complexities that are associated with the use of social media and healthcare big data, through
influencing factors, and to develop a framework that can be used to improve health-related
services to the patients.

Methods: The interpretivist approach was employed, within which qualitative data were
collected. This included documents and existing literature in the areas of social media and
healthcare big data. To have a good spread of both previous and current state of events within
the phenomena being studied, literature published between 2006 and 2016 were gathered. The
data were interpretively analysed.

Results: Based on the analysis of the data, factors of influence were found, which were used to
develop a model. The model illustrates how the factors of influence can enable and at the same
time constrain the use of social media for healthcare services. The factors were interpreted from
which a framework was developed. The framework is intended to guide integration of social
media with healthcare big data through which service delivery to patients can be improved.

Conclusion: This study can be used to guide integration of social media with healthcare big
data by health facilities in the communities. The study contributes to healthcare workers’
awareness on how social media can possibly be used to improve the services that they provide
to the needy. Also, the study will benefit information systems and technologies and academic
domains, particularly from the health services’ perspective.

Background: Knowledge retention plays an important role in combating organisational
knowledge loss. However, some organisations, including mining companies, still lose
organisational knowledge because of employees’ retiring, resigning, downsizing, attrition and
so on. This leaves the organisations with a shortage of qualified senior experienced employees
to meet production needs, which has a negative impact on the running of the operational
functions on a day-to-day basis.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate knowledge retention strategies in a
platinum mine in the North West Province of South Africa.

Method: The study used qualitative research approach. Data were collected through semistructured
interviews and document analysis.

Results: The key findings of the study revealed that although the mine has a knowledge
retention policy, some of the employees are not aware of its existence and there was not enough
support of knowledge retention initiatives from the management.

Conclusion: The study concludes by arguing that having knowledge retention policy, strategies
and initiatives on paper but failing to implement is as good as not having it. The organisation
needs to implement knowledge retention policy in order to benefit from the knowledge
retention initiative.

Background: Knowledge transfer is an unavoidable process when it comes to indigenous
knowledge especially in Africa, the continent known for its oral tradition. Such knowledge
is in danger of being obliterated as a result of a number of factors, including lack of interest
from younger generations and low life expectancy whereby knowledgeable people die before
transferring it to the next generation as it is mostly not documented.

Objectives: This qualitative study utilised hermeneutic phenomenology guided by the
organisational knowledge conversion theory to investigate the transfer of indigenous
knowledge by traditional healers in the Limpopo province of South Africa.

Method: The study utilised a snowball sampling technique to determine the population. Data
collected through interviews with traditional healers were augmented with observations done
on two healers who were in the middle of their training when this study was conducted, as
well as an analysis of records held by some healers.

Results: The findings suggest that knowledge of traditional healing is believed to be transferred
to the chosen ones through dreams and visions. However, this knowledge seems to be
transferred through mentorship and apprenticeship, as well as interactions with other healers.

Conclusion: It is concluded that transferring knowledge of traditional healing goes beyond
just transference; it is embedded as a belief system in many African communities. An in-depth
study on the development of a framework to integrate indigenous knowledge of traditional
healers into mainstream health system is recommended.

Background: Facebook has become one of the most popular advertising platforms on social
media. It is therefore important for social media marketers and researchers to have an
understanding of the predictors of Facebook users’ engagement with Facebook advertising
across all brands and Facebook advertising types.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine whether the theory of planned behaviour could be
applied to understand and predict engagement with Facebook advertising.

Method: Non-probability convenience sampling resulted in a sample size of 656 Facebook
users above the age of 18 who resided in South Africa. The data collected by means of an online
survey were analysed using regression analyses.

Results: The findings indicated that attitude was the strongest predictor of behavioural
intention to engage with Facebook advertising, followed by subjective norms. However,
perceived behavioural control was found not to be a significant predictor of behavioural
intention to engage with Facebook advertising. Furthermore, behavioural intention to engage
with Facebook advertising was found to predict actual engagement.

Conclusion: Social media marketers need to focus on influencing attitudes and subjective
norms to increase engagement with their Facebook advertisements. Furthermore, the theory
of reasoned action was found to be more appropriate to predict engagement with Facebook
advertising, as it excludes perceived behavioural control.

Background: Electronic libraries are the recent development in the ever-changing technological
world today. Students nowadays have the ability to carry the library wherever they are, their
Internet-enabled devices being the only requirement. Most universities worldwide have
subscribed to various online databases and other e-resources as a way of availing resources to
their students. To their credit, most institutions of higher learning in developing countries
have not been left out in this stampede.

Objectives: The study aimed at investigating the adoption and utilisation of e-resources by
students at a university in a developing country.

Method: The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) model was used to conceptualise the
study. A survey questionnaire was designed and distributed through social media platforms
such as Facebook and WhatsApp. Quantitative data were analysed using the Statistical Package
for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The Chi-squared test was used to test for casual relationships
within the developed model. A thematic approach was used to analyse qualitative data.

Results: Despite the fact that many Zimbabwean academic institutions have made the facility
of e-libraries top agenda in their strategic plans, the adoption rate among students is still very
limited. This can be attributed to a myriad of facts, inter alia, poor marketing strategies, lack of
resources among the students and exorbitant data charges by Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

Conclusion: This study has provided some basic insights in utilisation of e-resources in
universities of developing countries. Despite the younger generation being described as digital
natives, it is, quite evident that their uptake of technological innovations especially in education
is quite poor. This research will assist both researchers and management of institutions of
higher learning to provide and design amicable solutions to the problem of poor utilisation of
e-resources as it highlights the major causes of poor utilisation in the developing country
context.

Background: The use of mobile devices for education is rapidly growing, and it is a global
phenomenon. The trend of bringing personal mobile devices for learning using the institution’s
network to access data and other academic material is referred to as bring your own device
(BYOD). Most universities in developed countries have implemented this phenomenon to
enhance education. However, the rate of BYOD adoption in developing countries is lagging
even though the majority of students and staff already own one or more mobile devices and
are using them for personal and educational purposes.

Objectives: The study determines the readiness of a South African university to adopt BYOD
for teaching and learning. Moreover, the article presents the enabling factors and barriers
of BYOD adoption within the university.

Method: The study followed an interpretivist philosophical stance. A qualitative single-case
study was used. Data were collected through questionnaires and thematic analysis was applied.

Results: The BYOD readiness levels are low and are hampered both by organisational and
technological factors. Key barriers include lack of comprehensive policies to govern the use
of these devices, lack of infrastructure, limited top management support for innovations
and security complexities, while the key enabling factors included accessibility to mobile
technologies, ease of use, relative advantage and convenience.

Conclusion: Bring your own device offers a suitable platform for mobile-learning (m-learning)
in universities. Consideration of the readiness factors, such as adoption strategy, implementation
plans, security and device management, skills development, and measures of discipline, is
essential.